Hey everyone. Instead of boring you with lots of new products full of this and that, a lot of ingredients you can’t even spell let alone pronounce, I thought I'd switch things up a bit on my blog today. I need to talk to you about my current skincare routine, I personally find skin care posts a little bit boring but I needed to share this with you, it’s definitely not your average skin care post. It’s the ultimate recipe for good skin, for only £3.00. So do read on to hear about my recent skin journey…
My skin has been horrendous recently and I needed to find something, anything to fix it. I'm very lucky to have lasted this long with just the odd hormonal spot, but recently that changed. After having two facials in a week and using far too many products on my skin for far too long, out came the horrendous skin. I have been looking for a solution for a few weeks now, I understand that facials really do aggravate your skin and it can take a few weeks for them to calm down, they bring out all the badness, but what are you meant to do in the mean time? Feel absolutely rubbish about yourself? It's not all about looks of course not, but when your skin is as bad as mine was, you probably wouldn't even want to leave the house. Then I found the solution. I was told to only use two products, apprehensive to say the least: they weren't expensive, fancy and I'd never heard of them? More products? Really? But desperate, I took the advice and tried this method and honestly, it's the best thing I've ever done...
These two products don't look very Chanel, they're not the most expensive things in the world, in fact, probably the cheapest skin care products available and the most basic, so how and why have they been the only things to fix my skin? How did I hear about them and do they actually work? Weeks of ranting and getting myself really upset about those pesky under spots, those tiny ones which aren't even proper spots, my Mum came to the rescue and after years of her suffering with acne, she explained that no, I don't have acne but she does know the perfect two products that will help my skin. She handed me a plain looking yellow bar of soap and some E45. I pushed my expensive products to the side and for about 5 weeks now, I have been using these.
I was also told by a lovely skin expert called Zoe that I have probably just over worked my skin, created excess oil which leads to sebum, which in turn leads to spots which then leads to drying. It's a very vicious cycle and reading her words made me realise that I just need to take a complete break from this expensive skin care and just go back to the basics. Sometimes, the basics really are the best. I’m not saying expensive skin care isn’t good, I have some unbelievable products which are incredible and proven to work, however, for my skin type, using tens of products really wasn’t the best thing after two facials.
Cidal soap may look ugly, but it has fixed my skin. My Mum explained that it has no 'nasties' in it, is completely simple and will just help to balance my skin out. I trusted my Mum because she wouldn't ever put anything bad on her face after suffering from such bad acne, she swears by using this soap and water. She’s had advice from professionals (and her skin is perfect now). After a little bit of research, I found out that actually this magic soap is an antibacterial soap, which would explain why it's got rid of my spots and stopped them from returning. The soap is designed to neutralise the skin, which is what I needed after creating too much oil after using far too many products. Too much of a good thing, always ends badly.
My first thought was that using a soap on my skin would make it really dry, and give it that horrible tight 'I just washed using soap' feeling. But surprisingly, it really doesn't at all. My skin feels and looks smooth. I always used to tell my Mum she was mad for using soap on her skin and many skin professionals would probably tell you not to. Obviously, you don’t have to take my advice, I’m just telling you what has worked for me, after weeks of panicking and trying every product that exists. Nothing will really work over night as the skin turns around roughly every 4 weeks, so you’ve really got to give products a chance.
I then paired this soap with E45 cream, another dream product which people swear by. Apparently Cheryl Cole swears by using E45 Cream for her skin. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me. This is the UK's best selling moisturiser for a reason and when my Mum handed me a £2.00 tube of it, again, I wasn't convinced. Firstly, it says it's for itchy skin, but when I did some research I found out that actually, E45's non greasy formula is what makes it so good for spot prone (oily) or sensitive skin. It just moisturises, nothing more, it's natural and simple, which is what I needed.
I’ve got to admit, it was really weird getting used to a two step skin routine, for so long I have been cleansing, toning, moisturising oh and then I'll add a serum... and it clearly just took the toll on my skin, something did anyway. I clearly made my skin create too much excess oil.
If you're having a bad skin day, I honestly think you need to try these products. I doubt I'll ever stop using them now, my skin is nearly back to life apart from a few scars here and there and a touch of redness. I can't thank my Mum enough for showing me that sometimes, simple, cheap products, are the ones worth buying. Sometimes you've got to look beyond the advertising campaigns and really look for products which will work for your skin type. Don't get me wrong, I love my designer skin care products, but this time, I had to put my skin first and these products clearly work with my skin. I’m not promising that they’ll work for you, but both me and my Mum have had the most positive experience with them.
The soap is £1.99 for two bars from Boots, I buy mine from my local Supermarket for about £1.00. E45 can be bought pretty much anywhere, for around £2.00. So who wants to try this new £3.00 skin care routine? That actually works? It's worth a try...
It took me a while to pluck up the courage to actually use an expensive product, but I took the plunge and the only other product that I've been applying to my face, simply to get rid of the redness left from the spots, is Kiehl's midnight recovery concentrate. The only reason I even thought about using this on my skin is because it's natural, soothing and calming. I've been dabbing the tiniest bit only onto my problem areas (which are now non-existent) and this really is a midnight recovery potion. After one night, I woke up and the redness had gone. This will make this simple skin care routine more expensive so don’t feel that you need to add it to your routine, but if you must add an expensive product to your routine (and one that works) and you’re looking for a final step to just get rid of redness or spots then this is the one that I'd recommend out of them all as I've genuinely seen incredible results from it. To justify the price, it probably wont ever run out, as I only dab the tiniest (I'm talking absolutely tiny, like a grain of sugar) on the problem areas on an evening before bed. You will wake up repaired.
So that's that, I desperately wanted to trial this out and tell you all about it. It really goes to show that you can have incredible skin and you can fix your skin, for a mere £3.00. Sometimes, the best products aren't the most expensive ones. I do think that this is the ultimate skin care routine now and I've even made my friends all move onto it. I'd love to hear about your skin, have you ever just stripped back your skin care routine and tried anything like this? Are there any expensive (or cheap) products that you absolutely swear by? Do you like E45 cream or are you thinking of using it? What do you think to this?
Lots of love, Em x
Please note, this works for my skin, I hope it works for yours too, but it may not!
Please note, this works for my skin, I hope it works for yours too, but it may not!
P.S, I've been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan 'best new beauty blog' award and I am speechless, I'd love to have your vote. You can vote for me here. Voting ends very soon! Thank you so much, it means the world to me.
